The field of communications has become increasingly important in today's society. One area of importance associated with network communications relates to routing. Routing protocols allow one or more components, devices, or modules to correctly direct information to its appropriate destination. Certain paths or designated routes may be considered optimal or preferred over others. Additionally, it is generally important to ensure that a path being advertised or offered to various network elements is valid, as the integrity of communications are directly affected by the accuracy of routing information.
As traffic and the subscriber base of end users increases, so too does the importance of proper routing and efficient management of communication sessions and data flows. Some network equipment may provide incorrect path information or inaccurate data for other network elements, which rely on the erroneous information in determining an optimal route or subsequent destination. Deficient or inferior routing processes may cause network instability, whereby network equipment is susceptible to routing information incorrectly, managing communications improperly, breaching security parameters, or losing/dropping information. Thus, the ability to accurately manage or direct information in a network environment provides a significant challenge to network operators and system designers.